Kensett, IA 50448 Frost Dates
Kensett, IA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/04, roughly 249 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
Kensett sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Kensett's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Kensett's last frost
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Kensett against the rest of the dataset
Kensett's growing season runs about 152 days, ranking 34,889 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IA, it ranks 957 of 1,042.
Learn more
Before leaning on 50448's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Kensett can differ from the 50448 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Kensett's frost date answer different questions.